Supporting the First Stryker Brigade in Iraq - Army Logistics ...

ALOG NEWS
AUSA MEETING PROVIDES FORUM
FOR LOGISTICS LEADERS
The Army’s senior logisticians, speaking at the
Association of the United States Army (AUSA)
annual meeting in Washington in October, emphasized
the need for developing an expeditionary logistics
force that can operate across the joint and combined
environment that increasingly characterizes warfare.
The Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff, G–4, Lieutenant
General C.V. Christianson, used an analogy comparing
buses to taxis to illustrate where Army logistics
must go. Buses use a structured approach to serving
customers, following fixed routes with fixed stops,
while taxis are more flexible and responsive, having
no fixed routes or schedules but moving where and
when their customers request. According to General
Christianson, “We need both.” The Army needs to
have the capabilities to provide support depending on
the demands of the operational environment and
customer requirements, he said.
General Christianson noted that there must a single
entity responsible for joint theater logistics that
can synchronize and integrate all capabilities;
responsive support that meets commanders’ needs;
agile sustainment that adapts to rapidly changing
environments; and joint interdependencies that leave
no gaps in capabilities but instead create only
planned overlaps.
Major General Ann E. Dunwoody, the Commanding
General of the Army Combined Arms Support
Command, described how Army combat service
support training is changing from an emphasis on
the technical expertise of soldiers to an expanded
emphasis on their tactical skills and how Army
organization is changing from layered and heavy to
expeditionary and modular structures.
Major Robert T. Dail, the Director of Operations,
J–3, of the U.S. Transportation Command
(TRANSCOM), reviewed recent initiatives undertaken
by TRANSCOM in its role as the Department
of Defense (DOD) Distribution Process
Owner. These initiatives include continuing to
build TRANSCOM as the single distribution
process owner, codifying joint logistics processes,
consolidating global container management under
the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution
Command, developing TRANSCOM as the portfolio
manager for DOD supply-chain information technology
systems (see related story on page 43), and integrating
operations and logistics (both processes and
systems). The goal is to create a force and sustainment
mover (the Distribution Process Owner) that
connects capability providers to the warfighter.
Representing the other major DOD-level logistics
organization, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA),
Vice Admiral Keith W. Lippert, its director, said
DLA is concentrating its efforts on reducing customer
wait time (CWT) to support the warfighter
and transforming its business processes through its
Business Systems Modernization program. Reducing
CWT involves such initiatives as forward stock
positioning, establishment of the Deployment and
Distribution Operations Center (DDOC) in the U.S.
Central Command, and studying the creation of an
afloat distribution center and a scalable, deployable
Defense distribution depot capability.
Brigadier General David A. Fastabend, the Director
of Concept Development and Experimentation
at the Army Training and Doctrine Command’s
(TRADOC’s) Futures Center, talked about the
importance of developing joint interdependencies.
These interdependencies include joint command
and control; joint fires and effects; joint force projection,
with the Army being the most dependent
of the services on joint force projection capabilities;
joint air and missile defense; and joint sustainment,
which is closely related to force
projection since the services share the same lines
of communication.
General Kevin P. Byrnes, the Commanding General
of TRADOC, summarized the significance of
the transformation to an expeditionary force and
reiterated the need for adaptability. “Expeditionary”
does not mean only speed in deploying and providing
support, he observed, but also the ability to adapt
to changing environments.
MORE UP-ARMORED VEHICLES
HEADED FOR IRAQ
Nearly 5,100 up-armored high-mobility, multipurpose,
wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs) have been
delivered to Army and Marine Corps units in Iraq,
and another 724 are on ships en route to the theater.
The vehicles will provide increased protection
against grenades, improvised explosive devices, and
small-arms fire.
(ALOG NEWS continued on page 43)
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